The Traverse town defence
by Next-tangent
Summary: A story about the FF charictors during Kingdom hearts please R
1. The begining

Before the end.  
  
"It has to be done!"  
  
"But why?"  
  
"The town needs us." "But why you? I need you!" "Ill come back but you have to run and ill see you soon." Aerith was now in a mad panic but Cloud gave her a hug and the screamed "Run!" Aerith turned round only to see another wave of heartless, this was getting hopeless but they had to protect the town. It was the last standpoint of the people. When they had to run the came here and they had sworn to keep the first district safe, but it was now getting hopeless. But a lot had happened since they made that promise. If she remembered right it all began the day after they had met the keyblade master. They had woken up to find that Leon was awake and bleeding badly, there was a dead body next to his and he was staring at the floor. When he finally looked up, he did so very slowly even for him, his face was extremely white and he had blood all over his face and a small child curled up in his arms. All of the district's doors were shut and double bolted, no one was taking any chances. "Is it alive?" braved Yuffie. To which Leon said only "yes but barely I had to hack the thing off of it." His voice quivered even as he said this and his face lowered again. "It has to survive! I will make sure of that!" Everyone how ever could still see his fear, something that Leon showed rarely but when he did he was truly scared. The next few days were dedicated to caring for the child. They did so with all their effort and all their skill. But after 2 days of care and affection the child died. Leon who had not slept to look after the child said nothing and walked straight out of the house. Cid told us to leave him some time before going out looking for him. After the entire town isn't that big and Leon had a way of getting out of the most difficult situations. After 2 days Aerith started to worry and said she was going to go look for him. Cloud, who was more worried about Aerith than Leon, agreed to go with her. After collecting their equipment and checking if they had enough to survive out in the 3rd district they headed out of the house and saw to there horror that the heartless were multiplying fast. They were trying to build a kind of army to take this the last sanctuary for the free people. They decided that it would be obvious if Leon was in the 3rd district and so headed off to the second district, at the gate of the second district however a large group of heartless were waiting. The heartless seemed to smell the 2 hearts and almost simultaneously they turned to look directly at Cloud and Aerith. But the 2 were trained fighters and neither was about to let the other go without a fight. And one hell of a fight it would have to be to separate them. And so as Cloud ran in to the center causing the heartless to jump out of the way of the blade and putting them straight in the path of Aerith's magic. Today she had chosen to use all fire magic in varying degrees of power. This created an almighty fire show as it sent heartless screaming through the air burning. As they hit the ground the embers lit up a pathway and finally destroyed the heartless. The sky was getting dark and clouds were rolling in from the east. The pair finally destroyed the last of the heartless with a huge swing from cloud, which took out 3 heartless who weren't quick enough to jump the blade. And then as the first raindrop hit the ground they proceeded through the gate to the 2nd district. As they entered it they heard Leon roar as the sound of wood splintering and heartless chattering as they streamed into the first district. The sound of innocent screaming was almost deafening as the rounded the house and saw the hole it was huge, and even now with Leon obviously in the first district, heartless were still streaming into the first district. Cloud and Aerith now side by side broke into a run and ducked through the hole which still wasn't big enough to walk through where they saw heartless feasting on innocent hearts and Leon doing his best to help those in need. Cloud Roared Leon's name and ran straight towards the heartless about to jump on his back. Aerith headed to a group of heartless and let off as much of her magic as she could in one go. The scene was chaos as the 3 sliced their way through the hoards of heartless but suddenly 5 heartless grabbed Aerith and attempted to take her soul and a few seconds later 2 got onto Leon's back and aimed for his heart. Cloud was broken what was he to do, he couldn't let Aerith die but Leon was important to. In a snap decision he ran towards Aerith and with 3 precision swings of his blade managed to destroy all 5 heartless before the damage was too great but without stopping his movements he kicked off a wall and headed back towards Leon. He knew the heartless would penetrate his body but Cloud hoped he could save Leon's heart but as he was running towards Leon something happened which he was not expecting. 2 darts flew out of nowhere and pinned the 2 heartless to the floor taking them off Leon in the process. And then Yuffie's voice shouted in the same upbeat tone of voice, "No one touches my Leon. Ill get you for this." She then drew out more darts and continued to assault the heartless. Against all his instincts Cloud stopped dead in his tracks. This was a mistake and he regretted it afterwards as 10 or more heartless charged back into him and nearly knocked him over, he whipped round throwing heartless all over the place and regained his balance. He suddenly saw what he had to do; he opened a wound near his heart a very deep cut he had obtained when escaping from hollow bastion. The smell of blood and the sudden ease of getting to a heart turned all the heartless. The suddenly all charged at him and he got low and ready to fight but as the first reached him he jumped and threw his sward into the first heartless. Leon threw cloud the lionheart and Cloud wielding a sward he was not used to, and fell whilst hacking at all the heartless. But this he realized would not be enough and then as he ducked to avoid a flying heartless and then a flurry of metal conflicting with heartless shot over his head, the rain suddenly hit his head again. And just as he realized what had happened, he had to be back in combat. He jumped and swung the lionheart as he landed he grabbed his own blade and cut off the tape. Suddenly the full strength of the blade was shown by the quality of the blade under the tape. The difference was huge, Under the tape the blade was pure silver reflecting light in different colors from it and the edge was sharper than any of them thought possible. Compared to this blade the incredible well kept Lionheart look dull and pathetic. But still cloud fought on keeping all his angles closed and not allowing any heartless to get close to him or the civilians. This was a feat that even took Sora, now looking like an amateur once again, by surprise but after 10 minutes of fighting valiantly, Cloud through loss of blood, collapsed in mid side step. Leon for the first time showing true courage ran, rolled and picked up the lionheart and attempted to defend Cloud. Finally all the friends attacked the heartless, and after half an hour of fighting finally defeated all the heartless. Cloud who by now was on his last breathes was clinging to life, Aerith who was the first to notice Cloud go down was also the first to run to him and attempt to heal him. Again and again she tried the healing spells she had learnt and all the potions she could find, but with no success. Now with tears streaming down her cheeks she begged Sora for his help and together they combined their magical energy together and bound the most complex and powerful healing spell they could muster up. But still no effect Cloud now with all the sorrow drained from his eyes looked straight at Aerith. Aerith fearing the worst suddenly drew forward all her magical energy and started to drain Sora's magic and Donald's too. The flow of energy combined as it flowed straight into Aerith and she forced it all out in one violent healing spell. The spell hit Cloud and his wound started to close. Slowly as the magic flowed into Cloud the wound started to heal up and the life and colour started to return to Cloud, all the spectators looked on in awe as the wound came to just a few centimeters apart. And then all of a sudden the magic ran out, Aerith collapsed to the ground her face turned towards the ground and she was breathing deeply. And as she did the wound opened once more and the blood poured out and the color drained from his body. Aerith looking up saw the mess and ran towards Cloud, she reached him and gripped him in her arms tears once again flowing freely from her eyes. Cloud looked at her with his big deep blue eyes and all the sorrow all the regret had gone but still Aerith stuttered out "I.I f..failed you." Cloud now desperately fighting for his life said quietly "You never failed me." "But I did I could not save you." Said Aerith choking on her tears. "Nobody can be saved from death. Everybody dies now its my turn." Said Cloud. "Don't leave me, I cant live with out you." Cried Aerith desperately griping Cloud. "I'll never leave you." Said Cloud and then right there in the middle of the street lying in Aerith's arms slipped into death and uttered no more sound. Aerith saying no more just buried her face in clouds lifeless body and cried. At last the mayor of Traverse town walked solemnly and quietly over to Leon. "I am sorry about your friend, we will give him a proper burial." Said the mayor quietly "However I feel we can come to some sort of arrangement about the towns safety." Leon knowing exactly what he meant said, "We agree if we had stopped them entering the district Cloud would not have died. And so we will defend the town in honor of Clouds sacrifice and to ensure that his life was not taken in vain." "Thank you," said the mayor "we are for ever in you debt." 


	2. Life after death

Several weeks have passed since Cloud died and the relentless work of the team was keeping the heartless from entering the 1st district. There had not been one death or transformation since the team started guarding the town. Periodically Sora would return from his travels and come to say hello and find out how they were getting on, but he could never stay for long enough to be any real help. In some ways this annoyed Aerith after all he was the keyblade master what was he doing to help? And her suspicions were made even more complete by the fact that the number of people entering the town everyday was increasing. But on the few times she expressed her feelings she was taken to one side and told the same thing. "We are sorry for your loss really we are, but Sora is doing the best he can." And this was the reason that Aerith was getting more and more distracted during her watches. Everyday she would go and sit at clouds grave and read him things tell him stories and she always ended with 3 words "I love you." It was however during one of her watches when she realized how stupid she was being. This is not what cloud would do if the roles were reversed he would be going out of his way to protect her gravesite and the others. He would also be strong and keep the others happy and good spirited. But what was she doing complaining and bringing the party moral down. She should be ashamed of herself. And then for the first time in 3 weeks the door buckled and the heartless poured through, slightly less than the last time but still over 100 heartless a formidable force. But Aerith rising to her feet walked calmly out to the center of the road and drew out her staff. The heartless charged straight towards Aerith but she was ready for them. With quick swings of her staff she sent them flying back and when they were on the ground she unloaded blasts of magic setting them on fire and destroying them. As Leon rounded the corner Lionheart in hand he suddenly saw the sight he never thought he'd see. It was obvious to him Aerith had changed and fairly recently. She was now focused and controlled she made no rash decisions and kept her line never advancing or retreating as both could be equally as lethal. The heartless were unrelenting and growing with strength all the time. But Aerith was finally using all the skill she had learnt and was defeating the heartless with relative ease; he decided he better stay until he was sure the problem was cured. After a few minutes of fighting the heartless retreated back into the 3rd district and Aerith closed the door. "This door really needs barricading." She said in a voice of slight irritation. "Well don't be lazy Leon get me some planks of wood nails and some heavy object." Leon went bright red turned round and walked off wondering how she could do that. It wasn't the first time she had done it either she was almost impossible to creep up on. Later when Aerith was let off duty she went to Clouds grave and while she was sitting there telling him of her day and the brake in, she suddenly remembered something she had once read in the great library of hollow bastion. She shouted, "I love you." And the joy in her voice was obvious. She ran home and wanted to know the second Sora got home. After 3 days of waiting Sora finally landed, he had discovered a second Nav-gummi and was wondering where it led. Cid was all over it he cheeked all his databases and spent some time searching for it. During this time Sora told stories of his adventures and the team was amazed just how many places there were they had not heard of or realized existed. Aerith vowed that her plan would not failed she just had to ask Sora one question. "Sora," she said "you said you had heard of a being with fire spouting from his head and arms." "Yes I did." Said Sora "Can you take me to him." Said Aerith. "Well maybe we could take a trip there," said Sora "what do you think Donald? Goofy? "We should go," Quacked Donald "there is a tournament on at the moment." "Then it's settled." Said Sora in a decided voice "as soon as we get this gummi fixed on we'll go to the games." Suddenly Cid said loudly "I knew it. You've found the gummi to hollow bastion. Guys we can go home." "NO!" shouted Leon "We will not leave this town whilst there are heartless here." This caused everybody to jump. Leon usually kept himself to himself but now he was physically blocking them from leaving. Aerith looked at him for an answer. And Leon said only "Aerith go! But come back soon." Aerith's face lit up as she realized she could finally put her plan into action. It was later that day when Cid had finally installed the gummi Aerith was packed and ready for her trip. She guessed she would need to find her own way back from the games but was always ready to get a lift with Sora and company. Sora was busy spending his Munny in the stores around the first district. He sure had a lot now but she guessed he needed it and had earned it. After all he seemed to have done a lot of great things recently. Including finding their home. And so she tried not to be jealous of the fact that they could afford to buy new equipment every few days and she could barely afford some flowers for the house and Clouds grave. "How did Cloud cope with all this." She suddenly thought out loud and to her embarrassment Sora was standing right behind her. "What? How did he cope with what?" Sora asked. "Nothing." Lied Aerith and wished she didn't have the tone of regret in her voice. "Well I thought we could go put some flowers on Clouds grave." Said Sora almost as though he had read her mind. "Yes please can we do that." Said Aerith and so they went and bought some flowers and headed towards the grave. Something shocked Aerith when they arrived at the Grave, where there had previously only been a small head stone with some small writing scribbled on it and a plane grass lawn, in which he had been buried, had changed. Now there was a mass of flowers an arch over the now great headstone, which was being worked on by some masons who were carving delicately onto the stone. And there organizing the whole thing was the mayor. As she walked over he turned and simply said, "We said we would give him a proper burial. And this is the proper burial for a hero." Aerith noticed a nice new bench placed at the side of the grave and placed her flowers on the grave its self and then began to cry. The mayor noticing this ran over and asked, "What's wrong? Please say you like it. We can change any of it! What don't you like?" At which point Sora cut in and said, "I think she's just overwhelmed I am sure she loves it." This was true she did love it and yet she couldn't help but cry this infuriated her and yet even her anger could not stop the tears. After a few minutes in the gravesite Aerith got up and left, Sora followed her at a discrete pace and soon they all arrived at the gummi ship. Aerith had dried her face and was back to her composed self; she never thanked Sora although she meant to somehow she could never find a way to. They boarded the gummi ship and she realized just how uncomfortable Sora's life was. The cockpit was barely able to fit 3 people in let alone all their equipment and now with her in as well the cockpit really was too small. She considered asking them why they didn't upgrade but decided it would be rude. And so she sat there in silence, the journey didn't take very long thanks to the warp drive Cid had installed, she made a mental note to thank Cid for this upgrade as if they had had to fly on standard engines she would have probably gone crazy. She wanted to know how the 3 survived when flying long distances, she was sure that they would kill each other one day. But soon the Stadium came into view. The thing was huge and magnificent balanced on a sheet of clouds, she couldn't quite believe her yes but still it looked like the descriptions she had read and therefore was quite probably the right place. After a few minutes of circling the structure they proceeded to land. The whole process took only a few minutes but it felt to Aerith like hours, she tried to busy her self by getting her equipment ready. It was at this time she wished she had brought more but realized that on balance she would be better off with out any more stuff. The landing sequence consisted of 3 parts, Aerith measured the time it took to do each part and this made the time drag on. The second they landed Aerith thanked Sora and Donald for piloting although she doubted they heard over their arguing. And then she left for the main entrance; the doors were huge but weighed almost nothing and so with the lightest push of the door it creaked open and then suddenly a thud she looked round to see Donald lying on his back spread eagled on the ground. And then she crept quietly into the entrance hall. "Phil?" she said quietly and when she was satisfied there was no reply she walked in and through the door into the main stadium. And then she realized her mistake; the stadium was being prepared for the tournament and so there were 20 or so people there. She crept round in the shadows of the stands and eventually after a couple of near sightings she finally made it to the back of the stadium and to the grill. "Hades," she said in a steady calm voice "I wish to make a deal." "Hades god of the underworld what can I do for you?" came the quick response. "I wish to have cloud back!" Aerith said simply. "Ah lovely soul he is I think ill keep him thanks." replied Hades. "I don't think you understand." said Aerith and with one flick of her arm froze Hades solid "I'm not asking." "You know I could talk better if you froze my lips," said Hades "But I suppose that you can get him back it requires a simple spell. Unfortunately its in Cerberus's mouth." "You better hope he plays nice." said Aerith angrily "Yeah great just leave me frozen why don't you." Shouted Hades. To which Aerith simply froze his tongue. Cerberus did indeed play nice and released the spell very quickly, seemed he didn't have the same resistance to fire that his master had. And so with spell in hand Aerith made her way back to Traverse town. The journey home was much nicer as she got a passenger vessel taking people from a recently destroyed planet to traverse town. When they arrived She got off and went to Clouds grave where she began the spell instantly and as she was nearing the end A voice said "No you don't," and a blade slid up her back cutting deeply into her flesh. Aerith Whipped round muttered a word under her breath and then mustered up all her strength to fight Sephiroth. But Sephiroth was too fast and there was no way she could match his pace. After just 2 minutes of fighting Aerith collapsed and the blood started to drip out of all her wounds. Sephiroth walked over slowly raised his sward and set about to plunge it into her neck. But then the words "I don't think so." Echoed out around the gravesite and then a huge scream of pain as Sephiroth received a punishing blow across his shoulders, his blood hit the ground and he teleported away from Traverse town. Aerith looked up and then fell into Clouds arms. "I spoke to you everyday at your grave," Aerith Said quietly energy fading from her eyes "Did you hear?" "Every word!" replied cloud and then Aerith's eyes slid shut. 2 Days Later Cloud Called to the others. And then She suddenly realized what had happened. "Cloud." She said, "I missed you." "I missed you too." 


End file.
